Thursday, April 7, 2016

Italy: Students launch boycott campaign against leading Israeli University

Denouncing what they claim are their universities’ efforts to silence
them, a group of Italian students has launched a campaign to sever all
academic ties between their country’s institutions of higher learning
and Israel’s main institute of technology, The Algemeiner has learned.

The group, calling itself “Students Against the Technion,” is
particularly targeting the universities of Turin and of Cagliari, both
of which have signed cooperation agreements with the
Haifa-based institution. According to an article
published online this week by another student group, the “Palestine
Project,” the administrations at both universities have been attempting
to suppress the students’ activism, by denying them campus space for
their events or even cancelling scheduled events at the last minute.

These actions, the authors charged, are part of a larger European
movement to suppress freedom of expression when it comes to criticizing
Israel.

They also explained their particular problem with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology:

Technion directly collaborates with the Israeli military
apparatus: it has received significant financial support … to develop
innovative military technologies such as drones and the renowned Israeli
Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers … Moreover, Technion fosters its
students to finish their compulsory military service. For example, it
granted more than the academic benefit usually provided to those
military reservists who took part in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in
2008-2009.